Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 19

As Lenok examined a submachine gun, a middle-aged man with a thick beard approached him and spoke.

“You’ve got a good eye. This is a decent one. It’s reinforced with steel from Achilles [a fictional company] to increase durability, and it has a balance stone embedded, so there’s no need for separate zeroing adjustments.”

He smoothly took the gun from Lenok and, with a practiced hand, loaded it and aimed it at the empty space.

Click.

He pulled the trigger, but nothing happened since the magazine was empty.

The man patted his bulging belly and burst into laughter.

“If I had to go to war right now, I’d choose this Pistok-4.”

Instead of answering, Lenok looked at the price tag on the display. He didn’t take long to decide.

“I’d like to look at other products.”

“Is that so? Well, you might not like SMGs. Then, how about this?”

The man rummaged through the display case and pulled out a rifle that was much longer than the submachine gun he had held earlier.

“Sightglass-992. It’s the most demanding and sensitive of the assault rifles, but its accuracy and precision are perfectly tuned works of art. It’s perfect for use in a city like this.”

Lenok silently looked at the price tag and shook his head. The assault rifle the man was holding was five times more expensive than the Pistok submachine gun.

What Lenok wanted right now was only the potential of a shooting combo enhanced through auxiliary magic [magic that enhances existing abilities].

He had been doing fine with just a cheap pistol, so there was no reason to use expensive equipment for testing.

More than anything, those pieces of equipment were too heavy for Lenok’s weak strength to carry around.

He would have to carry a gun all day while working, and the heavy-barreled guns were still too much for him.

It would be nice if he could constantly apply weight reduction magic to the guns so he could carry them around, but he hadn’t researched common magic that far yet.

When Lenok politely declined, the man clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed, but he didn’t push him.

“You’re a picky customer. But that’s the attitude you need when handling guns. Come to the counter when you find something you like. I’ll personally match the ammunition and calculate the price for you.”

He patted Lenok on the back and walked away with a light step to find another customer.

Lenok rubbed his tingling back and stared at the man’s retreating figure. His hands were so rough that it wouldn’t be strange if a barrier [a magical shield] had been activated.

Ignoring the man who was walking away, he carefully examined the guns on display.

Fortunately, it wasn’t like Lenok was completely ignorant about guns.

Thanks to his experience playing Gun Master [a fictional game], he could roughly guess the characteristics of each gun, including their strengths and weaknesses.

Before choosing a gun, Lenok once again reminded himself of the features he should prioritize.

‘It needs to be durable enough not to break when I pour mana into it. If not, it should at least be made of a metal with good mana conductivity.’

The memory of the gun completely breaking after firing once after he had consecutively cast four auxiliary magic spells on the supervisor’s pistol was still vivid.

He had to avoid the gun breaking at once when using a shooting combo magic.

‘It would be nice if it could fire in bursts, but for now, a gun designed for single shots would be better.’

Lenok’s mana had increased to an extent that was incomparable to when he first awakened his mana, but it was still not enough to use magic freely.

Even if auxiliary magic consumed relatively less mana compared to other magic, if he cast multiple spells with each shot, his mana would quickly run out.

It would be too much of a burden to cast magic on each of the dozens of bullets fired per second, so it was right to choose a gun that emphasized single shots and apply auxiliary magic to it.

‘Among those, considering a gun that isn’t too expensive and is reasonably portable… there are only two types.’

Pistols and sawed-off shotguns.

After narrowing down his choices to two candidates, Lenok hesitated for a moment and picked up a revolver.

Its single-shot power was strong, but it took a long time to reload, but that could be covered to some extent with auxiliary magic.

He couldn’t expect much in terms of quality since it wasn’t expensive, but it would be much better than the cheap pistol he had taken from the supervisor’s room.

Lenok, who had picked up a revolver labeled Sinox, immediately headed to the counter.

The man, who had checked the guns Lenok was holding, grinned and said,

“You’ve chosen a sturdy one that’s reasonably priced. Sinox is overwhelmingly popular among low-priced products.”

As he said that, the man rummaged behind the counter and placed a handful of ammunition on the counter.

“The ammunition for Sinox is 500 cell [currency] per bullet. Including the ammunition, it’ll be 300,000 cell. How about it?”

“I’ll take it.”

“Great!”

The man laughed heartily and quickly put the gun in a long case, packed the ammunition, and handed it over.

The man, who had received Lenok’s card and checked Lenok’s ID, handed over the packaged product, and Lenok naturally slung it over his shoulder and returned to his room.

When he arrived home and checked his phone, he had a text message. There was only one place he could get a message from. It was Jenny.

[I’ve got a good job. It’s for half a day. The pay is 20 million cell. It’s a mage designation request. Come see me tomorrow if you’re interested.]

“20 million?”

The pay offered by a giant corporation like Valitz was 50 million, so it was definitely a very expensive amount for a small mercenary office to offer.

Was it because it was a mage designation request? Either way, it seemed worth going to hear the story.

“I need to start researching auxiliary magic quickly so I can test it out on this job.”

Lenok sent a reply to Jenny saying he understood, then immediately opened the case and placed the revolver on the floor.

He picked up the revolver, Sinox, and carefully poured mana into it.

The first thing he had to do was find the most efficient and powerful auxiliary magic combo for this pistol.

The gun barrel held in both hands began to glow blue with Lenok’s mana.

The blue mana light leaking from Lenok’s studio apartment disappeared only after the evening turned into dawn.

#

“It’s a request from the Creamgal Mercenary Office. They’re planning to recapture a building, and they need a mage’s firepower support.”

“Is that why the pay is so high?”

Jenny nodded at Lenok’s question.

“The request from Valitz didn’t specify a job, so they paid a consistent 50 million cell. It’s customary to raise the pay significantly when requesting a mage by name. The demand is overflowing, but the supply is always lacking.”

Lenok took a sip of his drink, lost in thought at Jenny’s crooked smile.

A mercenary office… If he were to get involved again, he thought it would be with Antares, where Dylan was, but he didn’t expect to work with another office so soon.

“I want to hear the details. Exactly which building do they want to recapture?”

“The Scavengers have occupied a shared office that was being used for financial consulting and are using the power facilities without permission. The company is afraid that the transaction information will be completely reset, so they couldn’t even turn off the circuit breaker and were kicked out. Creamgal will take on the consulting company’s request and start the recapture operation.”

“So, the mercenaries hired by the consulting company want to hire me separately.”

“Exactly. Creamgal is doing reasonably well among the private offices that have set up shop here, and they usually have one or two mages, but it seems like they have their own circumstances if they’re looking for additional mage power.”

“Can you tell me exactly what ‘firepower support’ means?”

Jenny shrugged.

“It’s not a difficult job. Mages like you are quite helpful in urban warfare. You just need to cast magic from behind the mercenaries. It’s much easier than infiltrating a cosmetics factory and destroying it completely.”

“Hmm…”

Lenok wore a thoughtful expression, but he had already made a decision to some extent after hearing her words.

Judging by how far Jenny was going to say this, it was clear that the difficulty of the job was not very high compared to the generous pay.

Moreover, if it was a job where he could just project firepower from behind instead of directly engaging in combat, it was a great opportunity to use the auxiliary magic he had started researching.

Jenny stared at Lenok for a while, then nonchalantly handed him another file.

“If you don’t want to get involved with mercenaries, there are other jobs. They’re all requests that specifically named you. It seems the story of the mage who survived the Kraken’s attack has become a bit famous in this industry.”

“……”

If it hadn’t been for Ivelyn, he would have been dead, so what did it matter?

Jenny, who didn’t see Lenok’s gaze calm down, continued cheerfully.

“There’s plenty of time. You can decide slowly. But personally, I think the Creamgal job is the best. Mercenaries are very sensitive about money, so they don’t usually cheat or steal the money they promised.”

“Does that happen a lot here?”

“Are there only one or two thugs and trash in this industry? How many guys are there who just do their business and cut ties cleanly?”

“……”

“That’s why people like us take a commission and live. We sell trust and safety. To both clients and freelancers.”

Every time he met her, he felt that her words were truly eloquent.

An employment agency. Even though she was coldly arranging jobs and taking a cut, she didn’t seem intimidated at all and looked confident.

Lenok chuckled and nodded.

“Creamgal. I’ll do it. What are the date and location?”

“District 53. Tomorrow at 11 AM. I’ll let you know the exact location via communication.”

Mercenary Office

“It’s about time…”

Dray Creamgal, the head of the Creamgal Mercenary Office, swallowed nervously as he looked down at his wristwatch.

They were basically called mercenaries, but strictly speaking, they were part of a private military company (PMC).

The service they provided was force. Their method of resolution could be said to be somewhat extreme.

Moreover, the Creamgal Mercenary Office that he directly managed was not a large office that had grown into a franchise and made a name for itself like Antares or Plato, but a newcomer that had just started to establish itself.

Even though mercenary groups were known to be avoided by mages, the opportunities that came to him were limited since the scale was not that large.

Even if he managed to hire one or two people with great effort, they would soon be scouted by other organizations or get tired of the difficult mercenary work and leave.

He had been trying to minimize the gap in mage power by consistently hiring at least two mages, but things went wrong at the point when he had taken on this request.

“I can’t believe the two mages I hired this quarter would join hands and leave…”

Wei An, a young man who was stretching next to Dray, chuckled at his sigh.

“That’s why I told you not to push them too hard from the beginning, boss.”

“I didn’t give them any hard work. I took care of them from start to finish and asked them to just hold on for this quarter, but they stabbed me in the back like this!”

“It must have been too harsh for those softies.”

“That’s right, let’s not worry about what’s already happened!”

Kidel, a woman with glasses who was smiling while holding a long gun, and Ike, a bald giant with thick arms.

Looking at the dozen or so mercenaries who were chattering around Dray, he laughed weakly.

“Okay. I got a confirmation from Jenny, so I’ll be able to get a proper mage for this job. After this job, I’ll have to try to lure in some more chicks again.”

“Is the mage coming this time a good one?”

“I heard he’s a very skilled electric mage. He’ll be a great help in this operation. He’s the one that stubborn woman insisted on getting 20 million cell for.”

An elemental mage. Especially an electric mage who could unleash area attacks was invaluable.

Especially in a job like this, where the pay and scale were large enough to require the entire mercenary group to move, the stability it provided was incomparable to other forces.

That was why Dray had made up his mind to pay 20 million cell.

“His abilities won’t be lacking. …I don’t know what his personality is like, though.”

He was tired of the mages’ rotten personalities and misdeeds, and as Dray thought that and raised his head.

Someone emerged from an alleyway with slow steps.

A young man with a calm impression wearing a shirt. He was slowly looking around while munching on a sandwich in one hand.

“……”

The moment Dray and the young man’s eyes met, he immediately changed his course.

The mercenaries who had been watching everything from behind him groaned.

“No way.”

“Boss, no, right?”

Before Dray could answer, the young man stopped in front of them.

Lenok said while munching on his sandwich.

“Creamgal Mercenary Office?”

“…..Are you the mage, Mr. Ban?”

“That’s right.”

Lenok finished eating the rest of his sandwich and put the remaining plastic wrap in the bag he was carrying.

A paprika sandwich he had made himself for his health. Ironically, paprika was paprika in this world too.

It was a terrible, bland taste, but Lenok was enduring many things for his own health.

“Are you smoking before going into an operation?”

Kidel, who was furious at the sight of Lenok taking out a cigarette and putting it in his mouth, snapped at him, but Lenok didn’t even blink.

“It’s necessary.”

He had no intention of making them understand why he was smoking.

In fact, he had already smoked one while catching his breath on the way, but he was taking a new dose to be fully prepared.

Since the Creamgal Mercenary Office had offered a considerable amount of money, Lenok was not going to hold back his strength.

Dray stared at Lenok silently before opening his mouth.

“We paid 20 million cell just to hire you.”

“……”

“I hope you won’t be a hindrance in the operation.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Unlike his shocking first appearance, which was hard to believe was someone going to an operation with mercenaries, Dray nodded and turned his back at Lenok’s calm answer.

“Now that the mage has arrived, let’s start the final briefing.”

As he said that, he took out a laptop from the bag he had placed on the floor and opened it.

After operating a few buttons, a blue light emanated from the lens at the top of the laptop, creating a hologram.

It was a model of a three-story single-story building.